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Preparation

Bake pumpkin:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 450°F.

Arrange each piece of pumpkin, cut side up, on a sheet of foil. Top each with 1/2 tablespoon butter and 1 teaspoon granulated sugar. Wrap separately in foil and bake, cut sides up, in a shallow baking pan until flesh is tender, about 1 hour.

Open foil and cool pumpkin slightly, then scoop flesh into a food processor and purée until smooth.

Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.

Cook rice while pumpkin bakes:

Heat rice, salt, 4 cups milk, and remaining 2/3 cup granulated sugar in a 2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, until very hot. Transfer to a large metal bowl set over a large saucepan of simmering water (or to a double boiler) and cook over low heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender and most of milk is absorbed, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. (Add more simmering water to saucepan if necessary.) Remove pan from heat and keep rice warm, covered.

Make pudding:

Lightly whisk yolks in a large bowl, then whisk in vanilla, ginger, 1 1/3 cups pumpkin purée (reserve remainder for another use), and remaining cup milk. Gradually stir in warm rice, then pour mixture into a buttered 2-quart flameproof shallow baking dish (not glass). Set baking dish in a roasting pan and bake pudding in a hot water bath , uncovered, in oven until set, 50 minutes to 1 hour.

If caramelizing pudding, sprinkle evenly with turbinado sugar, then move blowtorch flame evenly back and forth over sugar until sugar is melted and caramelized. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cooks' notes:

·Pumpkin can be baked and puréed 2 days ahead and cooled, uncovered, then chilled, covered.
·Pudding can be baked (but not caramelized) 1 day ahead and cooled, uncovered, then chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before caramelizing or serving.

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Recent Reviews

This recipe was great with a few modifications for time and money. I used canned pumpkin and it was still great. I also left out the ginger merely for preference. It does take quite a while to cook the rice and it was a difficult task without a double boiler, but the result was still good.

A Cook from Richmond, VA /

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What a great addition to the Thanksgiving menu. The pudding was creamy and I loved the ginger and pumpkin combination. (I used whole milk from the farmer's market with the cream at the top of the bottle, maybe it made the difference.) I wouldn't change anything about the recipe. The only thing I would do differently, is wait to the last minute to carmelize the suger. I carmelized the suger in the morning and by desert time it had liquefied.

A Cook from Alexandria, Va /

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Yummy, and such a nice change from pumpkin pie. I cut the ginger to 1oz. Also, the ginger should be diced VERY small or you get too much of a ginger burst on the tongue. I also added a bit of cinnamon. I thought the pudding average until I carmelized it using brown sugar; then, al the flavors came together and I loved it.

Susan Stratton from Brooklyn, New York /

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Excellent recipe, but next time I`ll try baking the rice in the oven with the butternut squash instead of using a double boiler. I also think using jasmine rice and adding a little garam masala would be a nice Indian twist to, this dish, maybe a little basil also. Overall this was well received at my church pitch-in and relatively easy to prepare.

A Cook from Indianapolis, Indiana /

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This was a huge disappointment. The ingredients looked so good, I love cooking with crystallized ginger. It turned out dry and lacking creamy flavor.